1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording/reproducing apparatus, and, more particularly, to a recording/reproducing apparatus configured to receive, record, and reproduce television broadcasts.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, video tape recorders (VTRs) are known which receive television broadcasts, record the television broadcasts on a magnetic tape and reproduce the recorded television broadcasts. In such VTRs, if a user wants to reproduce a program recorded on a tape while watching a television broadcast, the reproduction of the tape is started in response to the operation of a reproduction button, and the signal of the program reproduced from the tape is output alternating with the television broadcast program. Further, if the user wants to watch the television broadcast while reproducing the tape, the user cannot switch to the television broadcast even if channel buttons are operated. In such a case, it is common to operate a stop button.
In recent years, instead of the magnetic tapes, disk recorders which record television broadcast programs on a hard disk (HDD) or optical disks such as a digital versatile disc (DVD) have come into use (e.g., refer to Japanese patent application laid-open No. 2004-349745). Even in the disk recorders, if the user wants to watch the television broadcast while reproducing the program recorded on the hard disk, the reproduction has to be stopped.
As described above, in the conventional VTRs and disk recorders, if the user wants to watch the television broadcast while reproducing the program recorded on the hard disk or the tape, the user has to operate the stop button. On the other hand, when the reproduction of the recorded program is being stopped, the user does not need to operate the stop button and can designate a channel without conducting any other operation.
Accordingly, when the user watches television broadcasts, conventionally, the user is forced to perform various operations depending on the situations, and therefore, it is not convenient for the user to use the devices.
Further, if the user wants to watch the TV broadcast while reproducing the program recorded on the hard disk or the tape, the user is forced to perform two steps; namely, stopping the reproduction and switching to a desired channel.